By Andrew W. Griffin

Red Dirt Report, editor

Posted: October 28, 2011

reddirtreporter@gmail.com

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Responding to Red Dirt Report's October 27, 2011 story "Uganda, The Family and the reintroduction of 'loving punishments," U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., offered the following statement, sent to this reporter on Friday:

"I do not, nor have I ever, supported or condoned this legislation. It is my hope that Uganda will abandon this unjust and extraordinarily harsh legislation," Inhofe said.

As we reported in the aforementioned story, the Ugandan parliament is re-examining a bill in committee that would take a very hardline against homosexuals in Uganda. The bill, first introduced in 2009, was met with international condemnation.

Inhofe's strong statement comes a little more than a week after he told Tulsa talk-show host Pat Campbell that Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni, a supporter of the bill, was "doing a good job." The bill, which include "loving punishments ranging from long prison sentences to execution, was put forth by parliamentarian and "Family" member David Bahati. Both Inhofe and U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, also of Oklahoma, are known members of the fundamentalist Christian "Family," as reported by writer Jeff Sharlet in his books The Family and C Street.

Uganda's anti-gay leader, Bahati, was thoroughly exposed by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on her program last year.

Inhofe, meanwhile, continues to promote friendly relations between the United States and various African nations he visits annually.

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